Evaluation and comparison of seed storage proteins in several Aegilops species from Iran

Genetic diversity is a basic element in plant breeding which could be used to improve new lines with favorable traits. Because of importance of high molecular weight seed storage proteins in commercial wheat cultivars, investigation of diversity of the proteins in wheat lines and its wild relatives is an essential factor in breeding programs. Genetic diversity of seed storage proteins among 105 accessions of the 9 Aegilops species including Ae. columnaris, Ae. umbellulataa, Ae. triuncialis, Ae. neglecta, Ae. kotschyi, Ae. cylindrica, Ae.crassa, Ae. tauschii, and Ae. speltoides were evaluated by SDS-PAGE method. Twenty two protein bands were observed among the accessions, which grouped in 24 different patterns. The most diversity was observed on Ae. neglecta which its diversity index was 0.12 and the least was observed on Ae. cylindria with diversity index of 0.03. Among the origin provinces of the accessions, Tehran and East Azerbaijan with index of 0.13 showed the most diversity and Lorestan with index of 0.06 showed the least diversity. Cluster analysis using between group linkage method, clustered both the species and origin province of accessions into three groups. The most genetic distance was observed between Ae. triuncialis and Ae. crassa, and the least genetic distance was observed between Ae. neglecta and Ae. umbellulata. Moreover, the most genetic distance was observed among the samples of Lorestan and Semnan while the least was observed among the samples of Kermanshah and Ilam provinces.